It is impossible to tell which of the two dispositions we find in men is more harmful in a republic, that which seeks to maintain an established position or that which has none but seeks to acquire it.

If you must take care that your opinions do not differ in the least from those of the person with whom you are talking, you might just as well be alone.

It is a certain sign of a wise government and proceeding, when it can hold men’s hearts by hopes, when it cannot by satisfaction.

Whether for good or evil, it is sadly inevitable that all political leadership requires the artifices of theatrical illusion. In the politics of a democracy, the shortest distance between two points is often a crooked line.

The Revolution is made by man, but man must forge his revolutionary spirit from day to day.

My people and I have come to an agreement that satisfies us both. They are to say what they please, and I am to do what I please.

No human life, not even the life of a hermit, is possible without a world which directly or indirectly testifies to the presence of other human beings.

In politics, what begins in fear usually ends in folly.

Politics is the art of the possible.

Natural rights is simple nonsense: natural and imprescriptible rights, rhetorical nonsense—nonsense upon stilts.

Written laws are like spiderwebs: they will catch, it is true, the weak and poor but would be torn in pieces by the rich and powerful.

Treaties, you see, are like girls and roses: they last while they last.

A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always count on the support of Paul.